Staring At The Sun
by Alena S. Anigor
Summary: He should've known that she would always be blinded... A /Shikamaru x Ino/ oneshot. Reviews are welcome.


Disclaimer: Naruto isn't mine, nope!

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**a/n:**

Okay...I must warn you before you read this...

This is..._a very, very weird one-shot._ I'm positive I wasn't on anything when I wrote this, but...heh...anyway, you're free to drop me a line and tell me what you think. Constructive criticism is welcome.

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_**Staring at the sun**_

-by Alena S. Anigor

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She would plop down on the grass next to him without a word, sky blue orbs glancing at the equally blue sky, watching clouds rolling by slowly. She would then look at his still, lying figure on the grass and sigh heavily.

His eyes would always be closed, or half-lidded just barely to gaze at the white puffy travelers in the endless blue. He would remain silent, not uttering a single word until she couldn't take the silence anymore and she would snap some caustic remark at him, just to break the stupid charade.

Usually, her remarks would consist of "You lazy dumbass!" or "How can you just lie here and do nothing?"

Sometimes she would just huff angrily at him, get up briskly and leave, marching demonstratively down the meadow, long blond tresses flowing behind her and he would sigh heavily, hearing her mutter all sorts of obscenities under her breath. And sometimes (and those moments were truly rare) she would lie down next to him, letting her clothes wrinkle in the grass, breathe in the fresh scent of the earth and mud and life beneath her, close her eyes slowly and allow herself a moment of peace just for a brief moment.

Usually, she would do that after coming back from a mission, somehow always finding him lying in his favorite spot under one, large old tree, too tired to argue with him.

She would ask him trivial questions sometimes, enjoying the sounds of the dusk around her. Crickets would chirp around them and the wind would tousle their hair, and sometimes he would answer her small attempts to start a conversation with him. Sometimes he wouldn't and she would keep her mouth shut until he would be forced to look at her and find out that she was asleep, her cheeks rosy, her lips parted, her expression of a small, innocent girl she used to be.

He would sigh resignedly then, get up and shake her gently from her slumber and then watch her eyes open slowly in some sort of wonder. He would grimace inwardly every time she would do that, the sky blue beneath him opening to look at him oddly, and sometimes, he would turn his head away, just to stop himself from wanting to stare in her orbs that matched the color of his beloved sky so much and imagine clouds in them rolling slowly.

She would get up quickly, mutter something under her breath and then walk away awkwardly, somewhat reluctantly. And he would follow after her for the night would fall over them and over the meadow and they had to go home.

As much as their interactions had lessened over the years, he would never stop greeting her when he would meet her on the street. She would always greet him back and their voices would sound odd, strained, business like. He thought she was doing that out of habit, for they once belonged to the same team and he didn't mind having some kind of reminder that they once shared something akin to friendship. And she was afraid to forget it, as well.

He would notice from time to time a sad glimmer in her eyes when he would look at her during pauses in their briefings as if she was thinking about some distant memory she had lost on her way of growing up.

He would remember occasionally her infatuation with Uchiha Sasuke and then her broken and crestfallen soul in her eyes after he had betrayed the village and fled Konoha to join Orochimaru in his quest for power.

He would shake his head at that memory but then he would see her standing in the middle of the hall; her slender but skilled hands, her body stiff and rigid and her eyes unyielding, holding that old spark in them. And he would smirk inwardly, nodding at her when he would stroll past her silently.

He didn't know why things had changed that much between them or what had pulled them apart. He guessed that was just the way life was and dealt with it in his own way, always accepting what destiny had in store for him calmly.

It was just the way things were...he was an ordinary boy, searching for simple things in life, lying in the grass and staring at the clouds and the blue sky above. While she, she would always want the things that were far beyond her reach and control. She wouldn't pay attention to small, seemingly insignificant things around her like he would. She would always stare at the sun; beautiful, shiny, perfect...treacherous.

And in the end, she would get blind.


End file.
